In an inspiring example of strength and courage, Rob Lowe announced today that he is celebrating 25 years of sobriety.
In a twitter message, the West Wing and Parks and Recreations actor marked his quarter century milestone and included a message of hope for those still suffering from addiction.
“To those struggling with addiction, there is true, real hope. 25 years ago today, I found recovery; and a life of promise. #Grateful.”
Lowe’s addiction to alcohol and drugs was highly publicised and culminated in a videotape of Lowe having sex with a 16-year-old girl being released.
Lowe suffered a series of other scandals in the 80s and 90s including accusations of infidelity with several of his children’s nannies and causing his ex-girlfriend’s miscarriage.
But on May 10th 1990, Lowe officially left the ‘Brat Pack’ he was known for, and began his journey to sobriety. And he hasn’t looked back.
Congratulations, Rob Lowe. You have our support.
In celebration of Lowe’s achievement, The Weekly has compiled the most inspiring sobriety stories.
Rob Lowe At the height of Lowe’s addiction, he was embroiled in several sex scandals and broken relationships.
“It was great. I loved it. Because I was ready. Problem is, people go into rehab and they’re not ready. You want to get sober for your parents, you want to get sober for your job, you want to get sober for the cops, you want to get sober to protect your image. A lot of good reasons, by the way, but unfortunately, the only thing that works is that you have to want to get sober for you. So, I was ready. And so if they told me, ‘Hey, Lowe, you’ve got to go stand in the corner on your head,’ I would have done it.”
Keith Urban Urban was heavily addicted to cocaine and alcohol in the late 90s, his wife Nicole Kidman inspired his change, after she staged an intervention.
“I had to make a decision which road I was going to take, once and for all. I’d been at that crossroads before and always taken the wrong road. It was really a profound moment in so many ways. The way in which Nic handled that moment was just perfect. Everything was just designed, I believe, for that moment to fuse us together.”
Russell Brand Brand has been previously arrested on drug-related charges 12 times, and has admitted to taking everything from acid to heroin.
“Staying sober is a daily challenge. I mean, my problem now is not, ‘Oh God, I’m gonna leap over that bar and grab some Cognac,’ or go out and try to find out where you score smack round here. And I’m sure I could do it within 90 minutes if I needed to. It’s much more about not getting resentful about things. Really, it’s a spiritual thing.”
Demi Lovato The former Disney star’s fall from grace was well publicised, but she made amends after checking into rehab three years ago.
“I’m not gonna lie. I was self-medicating. I was doing things like drinking and using, like a lot of teens do to numb their pain. Sober is Sexy’ is my new motto, and it couldn’t be more true! All you need to have fun in life is a great attitude and good friends. I’ve made a commitment to myself to live a happy, healthy life the best way I know how, and I want to spread the message that you don’t need to do drink or do drugs to have fun.”
Steven Tyler The former Aerosmith musician’s hard partying ways ruined his career. He admitted to Ellen DeGeneres that he has been to rehab “six or seven” times.
“[Drugs] took my children away, it took my band away, it took my marriages away, and I was on my knees. I don’t want to go back to that place … I take [my sobriety] seriously.”
Jada Pinkett-Smith The actress recently revealed she used to use alcohol to cope with her depression.
“I found myself drinking two bottles of wine on the couch and I said, ‘Jada, I think we’ve got a problem here’. I had problems with alcohol, and I really had to get in contact with the pain, whatever that is, and then I had to get some other tools in how to deal with the pain. From that day on I went cold turkey.”
Robert Downey Jr Downey was arrested several times in his youth for drug involvement and nearly ruined his career, before he turned it around with rehab.
“I finally said, ‘You know what? I don’t think I can continue doing this.’ And I reached out for help, and I ran with it. You can reach out for help in kind of a half-assed way, and you’ll get it, and you won’t take advantage of it. It’s not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. … What’s hard is to decide to actually do it.”
Naomi Campbell The model got involved in drug use during her modelling days, and found it hard to kick the habit. She was arrested and charged with asault in 2010.
“I’m in The Program, and I’m proud to be. The discipline of [it] has helped me in other parts of my day-to-day life. I wish I knew about it earlier. But I found out about it when I did, and life is good. Some people can handle a drink or a line of cocaine, but I’ve come to realize that, for me, it’s all or nothing — and it has to be nothing.”
Krisin Davis A self-confessed alcoholic, Davis struggled with alcohol addiction whilst working on hit tv show Sex and the City.
“I am an alcoholic. I know people who have abused alcohol and now they can have one (drink) and they’re fine and I respect that. I’d love to have a glass of wine, but what if I have another, then another? My life is too important for me to risk that. I just realized that drinking was counterproductive to what I was trying to do. Acting is very difficult in weird ways. You’d have to get to class by 8 a.m., work all day, rehearse all night, and it’s not really good to do when you’re hung over. I’d wanted to be an actress my whole life. That was my goal; that was all I cared about. Something had to go, so I chose drinking to go.
